The Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine community was founded in 1910 by marion gurney, who adopted the religious name Mother Marianne of Jesus. A graduate of Wellesley College and a convert to Catholicism, Gurney had served as head resident at St. Rose's Settlement, the first Catholic settlement house in New York City. She founded the Sisters of Christian Doctrine when other communities of women religious appeared uninterested in a ministry of settlement work combined with religious education programs for children attending public schools. The community established two settlement houses in New York City-Madonna House on the Lower East Side in 1910, followed by Ave Maria House in the Bronx in 1930. Alongside their classes in religious education and preparing children and adults to receive the sacraments, the Sisters distributed food and clothing, operated a bread line, and helped their neighbors in emergencies. In 1940 Mother Marianne and the Sisters began their first major mission outside New York when they adapted the model of the urban Catholic social settlement to rural South Carolina. They also served at a number of parishes, including several in South Carolina and Florida, where they ministered to both black and white Catholics. In Neighbors and Missionaries, Margaret M. McGuinness, who was given full access to the archives of the Sisters of Christian Doctrine, traces in fascinating detail the history of the congregation, from the inspiring story of its founder and the community's mission to provide material and spiritual support to their Catholic neighbors, to the changes and challenges of the latter half of the twentieth century. By 1960, settlement houses had been replaced by other forms of social welfare, and the lives and work of American women religious were undergoing a dramatic change. McGuinness explores how the Sisters of Christian Doctrine were affected and how they adapted their own lives and work to reflect the transformations taking place in the Church and society. Neighbors and Missionaries examines a distinctive community of women religious whose primary focus was neither teaching nor nursing/hospital administration. The choice of the Sisters of Christian Doctrine to live among the poor and to serve where other communities were either unwilling or unable demonstrates that women religious in the United States served in many different capacities as they contributed to the life and work of the American Catholic Church.
Category: Religion

Islam and North America offers a missionary engagement with Islam in North America. Most books on Islam approach it appropriately as a World Religion, centering on its medieval origin as a Middle Eastern religion that emerged under the inspiration of their final Prophet Muhammad, its distinctive religious beliefs and practice, and its contemporary resurgence as a World Religion and geopolitical movement. The attention of this book focuses on the presence of Islam in North America. Globalization, Muslim migration to the West, growing terrorist activity and other concerns makes this book timely resource for the Christian church in NorthAmerican. The book seeks to accomplish three purposes. (1) Equip North American Christians to think about Islam theologically and missionally. Two-thirds of the book is designed to help prepare Christians to live in a multi-faith context, with particular attention given to living with Muslim neighbors. An overview of Muslim migration explains the development of Islam as a contemporary World Religion, sketching out what takes place when Islam embeds in North American culture and informing readers on what migration patterns are anticipated in the future. In addition, the second section of the book answers some of the big theological and socio-political questions surrounding growth of Islam in the West. Do we worship the same God? Should Christians defend the right of Muslims to worship inNorth America? What does the Quran say about violence? Do Muslims aspire for Sharia law to overtake our political systems? The final section of the book prepares the Christian church to (2) engage their Muslim neighbor with hospitality and without fear and (3) encourage North American Christians to love Muslims with the love of Christ. These chapters help Christians discover places of common ground between themselves and Muslims, helping us identify challenges Muslims face when they immigrate to NorthAmerica, approach our multi-faith context missionally, and prepare to have cross-cultural gospel conversations. The last chapter reminds us that a missionary encounter with Islam in North America is both the calling of the church and is best pursued in community.
Category: Religion

Why do we need better communication skills? It’s the question many church leaders are asking; “What can our church do to reach more people?” The question arises from two convictions. First, we are commanded to compel people into the Kingdom and we are to be witnesses of Jesus and the gospel to everyone. But we have a haunting sense that we have not yet completed this “great commission”. The second conviction is that our church will die if we don’t reach more people. A changing world is putting our message and method to the test. How can we be true to the message and, at the same time, use all the tools, resources, and skills we now have available? Jerry believes God gives the increase and people don’t come to the Father unless the Spirit convicts and draws them. But, he focuses on the part we must play in the process. God’s word says we must “plant” and “water” the seed of the gospel. He says we are to proclaim His truth and compel people into the Kingdom by always communicating the reason for our faith. Jerry believes we are inviting but not compelling! This book gives clear direction as to how we should word our message and how to use every communication method available to us, and in the best possible way. He has given us a clear and practical plan for a more effective, yet practical strategy of church communication. Jerry Wilkins has his B.A. in marketing and has his Masters from Southwestern Seminary. He has studied and applied marketing and communication skills first as a Pastor and then as a denominational leader for thirty years. He is respected as a church communication strategist. He has authored several books including Marketing Your Sunday School, Smooth Sailing: Avoiding Storms in Your Ministry, and Resolving Conflict God’s Way. Jerry resides in Alabama with his wife of 50 years and has two grown children and one granddaughter.
Category: Religion

This book examines the partnerships and power struggles between American missionaries and Korean Protestant leaders in both nations from the late 19th century to the aftermath of the Korean War. Yoo analyzes American and Korean sources, including a plethora of unpublished archival materials, to uncover the complicated histories of cooperation and contestation behind the evolving relationships between Americans and Koreans at the same time the majority of the world Christian population shifted from the Global North to the Global South. American and Korean Protestants cultivated deep bonds with one another, but they also clashed over essential matters of ecclesial authority, cultural difference, geopolitics, and women’s leadership. This multifaceted approach – incorporating the perspectives of missionaries, migrants, ministers, diplomats, and interracial couples – casts new light on American and Korean Christianities and captures American and Korean Protestants mutually engaged in a global movement that helped give birth to new Christian traditions in Korea, created new transnational religious and humanitarian partnerships such as the World Vision organization, and transformed global Christian traditions ranging from Pentecostalism to Presbyterianism.
Category: History

In the nineteenth century American Presbyterians were among the many Western denominations that sent missionaries to countries around the world. They established foreign Missions as bases in those lands with the intention of starting indigenous churches there. Although the Mission structures were designed to function like scaffolding during the construction of a building, to be removed when the building is complete, the Presbyterian Mission structure in Brazil remained in place for 126 years, long after the Brazilian Presbyterian Church it founded became independent and self-supporting. It was the last of the Presbyterian Missions in the world to be dissolved. The story told here documents the contributions made by North American Presbyterians in Brazil and tackles the missiological question of just why it remained in place so long, and whether it should have.
Category: Fiction

Do we have a positive theology of the city so that an urban spirituality can emerge from this place? We have for too long focused on quick fixes, pop up churches, and strategic solutions which have left us malnourished and emaciated, yet bloated from our over-consumption of these unsatisfying approaches. Spiritual formation is something that we need to pay closer attention to today. How do we live this kind of holy life in the city?
Category: Cities and towns

The story of Dr. Kent and Amber Brantly's call to serve their neighbors, as well as Kent's fight for life against Ebola, and Amber's struggle to support him from half a world away. Dr. Brantly reminds readers of the risk, honor, and joy to be known when God and others are served without reservation.
Category: Biography & Autobiography